Transition Stroud (Company number 06978217) …...3 Transition Stroud Directors’ report for the...

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Transition Stroud (Company number 06978217)

Directors’ report and financial statements

for the year ended 31 August 2016

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Contents Page

3-8 Directors’ report

9 Income and expenditure account

10 Balance sheet

11-14 Notes to the accounts

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Transition Stroud Directors’ report

for the year ended 31 August 2016 The directors submit their annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 August 2016. Full name: Transition Stroud Registered company number: 06978217 Principal address The Exchange Brick Row Stroud Gloucestershire Gl5 1DF Directors Simon John Allen James Daniel Beecher Sebastian Timothy Buckton Claire Rose Deacon Paul Hofman Helen Patricia Royall Martin John Whiteside Erik John Wilkinson Bankers The Co-operative Bank plc Head Office 1 Balloon Street Manchester M60 4EP Exemptions

The directors have taken advantage of the exemptions available to small companies, including the audit exemption (see statement on balance sheet). Governing document

Transition Stroud is a company limited by guarantee. It is operated under the rules of its memorandum and articles of association dated 1 August 2009, amended 9th September 2009. It has no share capital and the liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1. Objects of the company The Company is established for the benefit of the community of the Stroud District to take, and inspire others to take, collaborative actions that strengthen local communities and respond positively to the challenges of climate change and declining energy supplies, in accordance with policies and decisions determined by members.

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Transition Stroud

Director’s report (continued) for the year ended 31 August 2016

1. Introduction Aims Transition Stroud (TS) aims to reduce Stroud district's dependence on a carbon based economy, by building community resilience in the face of challenges such as peak oil, climate change and recession. TS engages with people to raise awareness of the issues and discuss solutions.

Invitation Menu

Transition Stroud supports a wide range of regular events, projects and action groups that engage Stroud residents in activities that reduce the District’s carbon footprint and increase community resilience. In December for the first time we brought all our activities together in one leaflet - the “Invitation Menu”. This briefly outlined the range of activities that Transition Stroud is involved in – and invited people to tick a box if they wanted more information. From this, a database has been developed where those people can be contacted when events - such as film evenings, SkillsGain workshops Repair Café, Edible Stroud or Textile group meetings - are happening. The new “Invitation Menu” provides existing and new activities for individuals to get involved in. Summerfield Trust Grant In September 2015 Transition Stroud was pleased to learn that it had been successful in its bid for funding from the Summerfield Trust. The funding was used to

design and print the new “Invitation Menu”

engage over 100 individuals in Transition Stroud’s activities through use of the “Invitation Menu”

gain new financial supporters

plan how to engage local businesses in our work. The funding paid for two consultants. Caroline Aistrop and Sue Flook to deliver the project. All objectives were delivered and a report sent to the Summerfield Trust

Transition Stroud: Ten Years and Beyond Event A major event was held on 6 May at the Subscription Rooms in Stroud. Funded via the Summerfield Trust grant the event was by invitation only to Transition Stroud’s financial donors and other supporters - with the aim of reinvigorating the organization and making the case for more financial donors. A guest speaker was booked – Rob Hopkins, who founded the Transition movement in 2006. More than 150 people attended, some of whom converted to become financial donors and signed up to become involved in projects, via the Invitation Menu. Facilitation Fund Out of the Summerfield Trust project also came the idea of a “Facilitation Fund”. The fund has three broad aims:

to pump prime Transition Stroud’s priority projects;

to support projects that those with enthusiasm and commitment want to turn into reality – and which are core to our work

to support projects that engage individuals and groups that previously have not got involved with Transition Stroud.

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Transition Stroud Director’s report (continued)


One of the strengths that Transition Stroud has is that it is a “bottom up” organization – supporting those with a particular environmental passion. For example the Facilitation Fund has recently given a small amount of funding to support a member who wanted to start a “Transition Streets Initiative” – engaging others to go through a series of modules on energy; water, food; waste and transport so that they can reduce their carbon footprint - and be healthier. The Facilitation Fund is available to support current and new initiatives.

2. Action groups

Transition Stroud’s aim is to get individuals to take action to help reduce Stroud Districts carbon footprint – and to help create a vibrant resilient community. We do it in a number of ways:

Repair Cafes (Fix-it-for-Free) Four Repair Cafes have taken place at the Nailsworth

Community Workshop in the last year. Repairs are offered for mechanical and electrical goods (and PAT tested when fixed) - as well as joinery and sewing/textiles repairs. There are around twenty “experts” who can be called on to help repair goods. Publicity is via word of mouth and targeted leafleting; and 95 individuals have attended - with over 85% of goods and clothes brought in being repaired. The Repair Café volunteers featured in the TV programme “Hugh’s War on Waste”. Links have been made with the University of Gloucester Design Course – where students are being taught the benefits of designing for repair. Edible Stroud aims to grow more food locally and to provide a wildlife friendly environment from which we will all benefit. Fruit and nut trees, soft fruit bushes, herbs and flowers are planted by volunteers for all to harvest and enjoy. Projects include:

the ongoing creation of a burgeoning edible forest garden in the corner of Stratford Court playing fields.

a small orchard of fruit trees planted in Stratford Park earlier this year.

currently we are in negotiations with GWR and Network Rail with the aim of creating raised beds in the bay alongside platform 1 at Stroud Train Station.

All this builds on our previous work. In 2013 we planted fruit and nut trees at the Lake at the Lawn next to the Cainscross roundabout, and in 2014 we planted fruit trees, soft fruits, herbs and flowers at Stroud maternity hospital, and soft fruits along the canal between Ebley and Stonehouse.

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The Textile Group meet at least monthly to support and learn from each other. There are 50 people who are active and meetings usually have 7 to 10 present. All value the mutual support and ideas that everyone offers. Themes delivered over the last year include – learning to crochet; macramé and peg loom weaving as well as the regular activities of mending and swapping clothes. The group has now delivered its commission to make a fabric, edible garden for WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) – and the funding gained has contributed to Transition Stroud’s core costs. Useful time was spent creating clothing for the annual Trashion Show – educating people on upcycling clothing (and rubbish!) to produce creative and desirable clothing. The Wood Fuel Group met this year four times with 37 attendances and 111 volunteer

hours. The work was in support of the National Trust (NT) ranger and was mainly in the Haresfield Beacon area. Staff shortages at the NT and the weather prevented sessions from March to September 2016 but have now restarted with sessions planned for October, November & December. The work has been focused on reclaiming areas that have become overgrown or are affected by the Ash Die-back disease. The NT hope to reintroduce Belted Galloway cattle to graze on the reclaimed areas. The group organiser, John Fisher, also presented a Skills Gain workshop to help promote the organisation of other groups across the area

The Building Skills Action Group run workshops in a barn provided by Hawkwood College and also work on specific projects that develop the groups DIY skills. In November 2015 a DIY day focused on making outdoor steps at a group member’s home. Workshops have included repairing and sharpening garden and other tools and on basic blacksmithing skills. The group is seeking to develop a larger bank of tutors and group members.

Potato day

We held our fifth Seed Potato on Saturday 6th February 2016 in Stroud’s Merrywalks Shopping Centre. The aim is to promote the idea of individuals growing a little of their own food by planting a wide variety of Gloucestershire potatoes. Dozens of people purchased potatoes and this year we sold 14 different varieties with a net income of £160 which will be used to fund next year’s Potato day Transport Group The Transport Group contributed to the Stroud Neighbourhood Development Plan and are developing bus walks - linking public transport with beautiful walks around Stroud



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3. Engagement and Learning

Newsletter and Social media Our ‘mailchimp’ news mailing list has grown from 700 to 780 people in the last year; Everyone receives 4 newsletters in the year which has carried news and events from our partners and like-minded organisations as well as TS news. Recently we have moved to greater publicity of what Transition Stroud does (so we can get more volunteers involved) and now invite our partners on a rotational basis to publicise what they are doing. Our ‘Twitter’ followers (1671) and Facebook “likes” (674) have also grown. Film Evenings During the year, Transition Stroud ran eight film and discussion events, attended by an average of 50 people. The most successful was a screening of the Naomi Klein film “This Changes Everything”, which was a sell out and over £580 was collected in donations. Other events occurred during the Stroud Film Festival and the Paris Climate Talks. In total, over £1600 was donated at these events. Transition Stroud used some of our film evening income to fund a day workshop by Climate Outreach. The workshop was open to partner organisations in Stroud District and twelve people attended. The workshop focused on the different methods we need to use to communicate the issue of climate change with different groups within society. Book Group Six of the film evenings were accompanied the following Sunday by meetings of the “Transition Stroud Book Group”. The meetings were held at the Black Book cafe where there was a discussion on books that linked with the films evenings themes. These meetings were all smaller than in the previous year but were nonetheless valuable. They helped to promote and fund new books for the Transition Stroud Library, which has been used over 100 times during the year. Stroud Community TV Stroud Community TV (SCTV) is a not-for-profit independent channel for videos recording and celebrating the Five Valleys. It is part of Transition Stroud, and is helping to build and strengthen our community and promote a more locally-based low carbon lifestyle.

Stroud Community TV now has 2,500 local films on its website showcasing the work of local amateur and professional filmmakers. Over 60 films are in the ‘Transition’ category including some TS events. The SCTV Facebook page has 370 “likes” and SCTV has over 870 Twitter followers, with for example in June 2016, 7150 visitors looking at an average of 3 pages per session. The fourth SCTV Awards were held in March 2016. The website is managed by volunteers.

SkillsGain workshops

These workshops focus on those self-reliance skills we will need tomorrow - and offers taster workshops in these skills today. Workshops usually last 2 hours are delivered by skilled volunteers and are open to all residents of Stroud District. The cost is kept to £5 to cover venue and publicity costs. A programme of 11 workshops has been delivered this year including: Make Your Own Marmalade; How To Tweet Your Community Event; Recycle and Transform Old Wool and Yarn by Crocheting; Get to Know Your Sewing

Transition Stroud

Director’s report (continued)

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for the year ended 31 August 2016 Machine; Get Your Bike Ready for Summer; Growing Food in Small Gardens; and Setting up a Wood Fuel Group.

Grants and donations received We gratefully acknowledge the voluntary and financial support of many individuals and organisations and detail the grants and donations received during the year in Note 2 on page 11. Transition Stroud has sought to increase the number of regular donations and in the last year has doubled the number of individuals making a regular monthly contribution. Particularly helpful, also has been the funding received from the Summerfield Trust for the “Invitation Menu” project and the financial support from Stroud District Council.

Small company provisions: This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions for small companies under Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006. Signed on behalf of the board: Signed _________________ Date _____________________ Seb Buckton Company Secretary and Director

Transition Stroud

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Income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 August 2016

The company has no recognised gains or losses other than the results for the year as set out above. All the activities of the company are classed as continuing. The notes on pages 11 to 14 form part of these financial statements.

2016 2015 Notes £ £

Income

Grants & donations 2 10,360 4,962

Fees - -

Bank interest - 6

Sundry income 263 217

Total income 10,623 5,185

Expenditure

Projects 3 7,498 6,661

Website 350 -

Room hire 40 100

Insurance 321 360

Printing & publicity 4 468

Legal & professional fees - -

Governance - -

Training - -

Total expenditure 8,213 7,589

Net income/(expenditure) for the year 2,410 (2,404)

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Transition Stroud Balance sheet

at 31 August 2016

The Directors are satisfied that the company is entitled to exemption from the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 (the Act) relating to the audit of the accounts for the year by virtue of section 477, and that no member or members have requested an audit pursuant to section 476 of the Act. The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for:

i. ensuring that the company keeps proper accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and

ii. preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its surplus or deficiency for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395, and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the company and with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008).

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions for small companies under Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

The directors declare that they have approved the accounts above. Signed on behalf of the directors

Signed: _______________ Dated:____________ Sebastian Buckton, Company Secretary and Director

2016 2015 Notes £ £

Fixed assets

Tangible assets - -

Investments (long term) - -

Total fixed assets - -

Current assets

Debtors 4 - -

Vouchers 5 79 79

Cash at bank and in hand 6 6,967 8,557

Total current assets 7,046 8,636

Liabilities

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 7 - (4,000)

Net current assets 7,046 4,636

Creditors:

amounts falling due after one year - -

Net assets 7,046 4,636

Funds

Funds at beginning of year 4,636 7,040

Net income for the year 2,410 (2,404)

Funds at 31 August 2016 7,046 4,636

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Transition Stroud Notes to the accounts

for the year ended 31 August 2016 1. Accounting policies

Basis of the preparation of the accounts These financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008) and the Companies Act 2006. Grants and donations Revenue grants are taken into the income and expenditure account in the period in which they were received but if the grant relates to a period spanning more than one financial year the part of the grant linked to performance in the following year(s) will be treated as deferred income. Interest receivable Interest is included when receivable by the company. Governance costs Governance costs include those incurred in the governance of the company and its assets and are primarily associated with constituted and statutory activities.

2. Grants & donations

2016 2015

£ £

Summerfield Trust 4,000 -

Stroud District Council 1,536 1,594

Standing order donations 2,235 1,560

Donations raised at Film Evenings 1,614 665

Donations to Textile Group 100 -

Donations raised at Supporters event 85 -

Donations raised at Pop up Poet event 92 -

Donations raised during Festival of Nature 181 -

Donation from TS Minchinhampton 277 -

Sundry donations 210 160

Donation to Back2Bike 30 -

Stonehouse Town Council - 150

Various donations to Edible Gardens - 383

Sarah Lunnon for COIN workshop - 400

Donation from Stroud TV - 50

10,360 4,962

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Transition Stroud Notes to the accounts (continued) for the year ended 31 August 2016

3. Projects expenditure

4. Debtors

5. Vouchers

2016 2015

£ £

Stroud Pounds (donated) 79 79 79 79

2016 2015

£ £

There were no debtors in 2015 or 2016 - -

- -

2016 2015

£ £

Summerfield Trust

Contribution to Festival of Nature 400

Potato Day - 35

Transition Stroud Films 1,701 835

- Edible Gardens

- 484

Action Menu 507 Project contribution to operational costs 1,300 4800

7,498 6,661

-

-

4,097

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6. Cash in bank and at hand - summary of restricted and earmarked

funds

7. Creditors

*The Summerfield Trust grant of £4000 was received in the last financial year in July

2015. It’s activity has been entirely in this financial year (2015/2016) and it was treated as deferred income last year.

8. Staff costs and numbers Transition Stroud did not directly employ any staff during the year.

2016 2015

£ £

Deferred income - Summerfield Trust* - 4,000

- 4,000

2016 2015

£ £

Restricted funding from grants:

Back2Bike 156 126

Earmarked TS funds:

Open Gardens/Homes 607 607

Potato Day 494 331 Winterfest 241 241

Transition Stroud Films 67 154

Transition Free Press - -9 Residual funding within non-active projects: Tripswitch 358 358 Operational Budget 4,994 6,699 Petty Cash 50 50

6,967 8,557

Summerfield Trust 0 -

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9. Directors’ remuneration, benefits and expenses Directors give their time voluntarily and do not get paid for their services to the organisation.

10. Related party transactions The following payments were made in respect of services supplied by the businesses of the following Directors, related to various marketing and project support activities:

11. Commitments under operating leases During the period the company had no annual commitments under non-cancellable operating leases.

12. Glossary of terms

Creditors: These are amounts owed by the organisation, but not paid during the accounting period.

Debtors: These are amounts owed to the organisation,

but not received in the accounting period.

2016 2015

£ £

Seb Buckton Project activites - support 1,300 2,400

Helen Royall Project activites - support - 2,400 1,300 4,800

Transition Stroud (Company number 06978217) …...3 Transition Stroud Directors’ report for the...

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